The truths of Christianity were initially communicated orally, and then written down. Remarkably, it is the only religion in which the original documents were written in a language other than that of its founder.
Jesus spoke Aramaic. The New Testament Scriptures were written in Greek. Christianity is a translated religion! The words of Jesus are a translation.
A theme of making God known to all people in their mother tongue weaves like a golden thread throughout the fabric of the Old and New Testaments. God has pursued people on their turf and in their words ever since the proliferation of many languages at Babel.
The gospel spread rapidly thanks to the unity of the Roman Empire, its exceptional roads, and two uniform languages. There was Latin for governing and Greek for trade. These two languages spurred the spread of the gospel to every part of the empire over the course of a few hundred years.
But the progress of translating God’s Word into other languages was painstakingly slow. During the next 1,400 years, only 30 translations were completed. The Bible was virtually a European book even into the 16th century. In fact, there was no English translation until John Wycliffe translated the Bible in the 1300s.
Missionaries changed the face of translation work. Matthew’s Gospel in Malay, which appeared in 1629, began a movement. In the Americas, for example, John Eliot translated the Bible for the Algonquin community (Native Americans) in Massachusetts. It was finished in 1662.
Bible societies were formed in the early 1800s to promote the translation, publication and distribution of the Scriptures. Translation became a worldwide effort to reach people who had never heard the Good News. There were 68 languages with some portion of Scripture, including 40 with the whole Bible, by the 1820s. William Carey forwarded translation in India and Asia. He believed the Bible was the most effective way to advance Christianity.
A movement was underway.
The Holy Spirit was extending the reach of the gospel. To the ends of the earth. To the last languages.